JUDGE'S ORDER TO SHOCK DEFENDANT STUNS WITNESSES

LONG BEACH, California (CNN) -- Verbal interruptions by a defendant in a
courtroom prompted a Long Beach judge to order the defendant zapped with
50,000 volts of electricity from a stun belt.

The incident last week marked the first time a defendant has been shocked
with a stun belt since Los Angeles County began using them three years ago,
officials said Thursday.

It has also angered some witnesses and at least one human rights organization.

The defendant, Ronnie Hawkins, 48, was acting as his own attorney at a
sentencing hearing, for an April petty theft conviction, on June 30 before
Municipal Judge Joan Comparet-Cassani.

Shock to the kidneys

Hawkins' constant talking angered Comparet-Cassani, and, after a warning,
she ordered her bailiff to zap him with the stun belt fitted to Hawkins'
jail jumpsuit.

The devices are powered by batteries and deliver an eight-second current to
an area near the left kidney.

The sentencing hearing was then postponed until July 29, because Hawkins
said he needed to recover from the shock.

Hawkins has two prior convictions. Under California's "three strikes" law,
he is facing 25 years to life in prison.

Three bystanders in the courtroom later complained, and the Los Angeles
County Sheriff's department is now conducting a routine investigation.

"Nothing he was doing, in my opinion constituted any sort of security risk,"
said Jacques Cain, a public defender who was in the courtroom.

Is it torture?

But the prosecutor, Christopher Frisco, says the judge was justified.

"He was cited in county jail approximately six times for disciplinary
action. He had threatened the judge. He's HIV positive, which is
unfortunate, but he threatened to spit on people in the courtroom," Frisco said.

Amnesty International, which opposes the use of stun belts, said the act
amounted to torture.

"This is clearly, smack dab in the middle of a definition of torture under
every international human rights law," spokesman Gerald LeMelle told CNN.

The judge declined to talk to reporters on Thursday. But Mike Concha, a
supervisor in the public defender's Long Beach office, said he had spoken to
her.

"She was concerned for the welfare of the client," Concha said, adding that
the judge said she would reconsider using the device again.

More than 15 states and 100 counties across the United States use the stun
belt for inmates, according to manufacturer Stun-Tech Inc. of Cleveland,
Ohio. Stun-Tech says the device has been used 27 times without causing
physical injury.

Checked-by: Melodi Cornett